


A Fate Worse Than Death

by justavengers3000



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Tony Stark, Competent Tony Stark, Extremis Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Protective Avengers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26149288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justavengers3000/pseuds/justavengers3000
Summary: When Tony is unable to join the Avengers for a day time outing they think its fine and go off to watch a movieTony's busy schedule was not a surprise after all. What was a surprise was that the tower had been attacked and they weren't there to help him.In retrospect maybe they shouldn't have switched off all their Stark padsORTony is a bamf and the Avengers get a taste of just how much he is capable of.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team
Comments: 28
Kudos: 526
Collections: Merchant of Death





	A Fate Worse Than Death

**Author's Note:**

> So I really do not know what to write here  
> Tell me if you like it  
> i just really love a bamf Tony  
> And I ma sleep deprived  
> Combine the two and you get...............

“Come on Tony you should come” Clint said.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to spend more time with us?” Bucky added.

“I would be bored with them if you aren’t there” Bruce said.

“I wish I could but Pepper never takes a leave if its not serious. She must be really sick guys. I have to complete the paperwork before the deal she has worked so hard for is brokered.”

“And here we were thinking we would be able to trick him into sitting between us” Bucky said to Steve as they made their way out of the tower.

“You guys should really up your game before someone else takes your price” Natasha said coming up behind them

Steve flushed crimson while Bucky gave her an impassive stare.

“I don’t know what you are talking about” Steve said.  
“Sure, you don’t” she said and sauntered ahead.

In retrospect perhaps they should not have switched off all their phones before sitting down for the movie

Tony had only gone through half the paperwork and he was already tired.  
How Pepper managed to do it day by day was beyond him.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y please magnify File 5 Page 18 Paragraph 7 for me will you” Tony said heaving another sigh.

There was no reply.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y?”

Now he was fully alert, all drowsiness forgotten.

He quickly made his way out of the living room into the lobby directly across the elevator.

What he saw made his heart skip a beat.

Almost 2 dozen agents were scouting the lobby, spreading around in a formation, no doubt searching for him.  
He forced his breathing to relax. Now was not the time for panicking.

He heard them murmur something to each other before 6 of them broke off and went in the direction of his lab while another six broke off in the direction of his living quarters.

The remaining eight made their way straight towards him.  
Fuck fuck fuck.  
He had no weapon on him. Not even the gauntlet.  
He had to do something. Quickly and noiselessly.

He maneuvered his way across the kitchen and picked up two kitchen knives.  
These will have to do.

He made his way behind the group and saw them breaking into half.  
One going down the hall to the living room and one still searching the lobby.  
He tried the elevator. It was offline.

‘I had really wished I would never have to use these skills of mine after last time’, he thought to himself.

They were done with the lobby now, coming towards him.

Bless the wall between him and these stupid goons.

He rotated one of the knifes in his hands and shot it straight at the agent in the front.

It hit him in the eye straight through the brain just like Tony had anticipated.  
He fell down with a cry. Then all hell broke loose.

Tony ran headfirst for the couch and dived behind it just as gunshots started ringing around him.

The other knife was struck. It hit one’s gut. Not enough to stop him but just enough to make him stagger.

Tony saw his chance and jumped. Hooking a hand straight around his neck Tony turned and wrapped his fingers around the gun the agent was holding.  
The feel of metal was like oxygen in space to Tony.  
Instantly all his thoughts calmed down and became rationalized.  
This was his territory and these assholes were going to learn this the hard way.

Two bullets were shot. The remaining agents went down like leaves from a tree just as the other four came barreling down from the living room.  
Tony hid behind a pillar. He could hear them shouting furiously into the microphone and knew he didn’t have much time.

He moved as gracefully as a dancer and attacked with deadly accuracy. Another pair went down.

The gun was empty. He threw it towards his captors and it hit one in the face momentarily distracting him.

With the precision only an assassin possesses he jumped over the table in a quick leap and slammed into the other guard.

By the time the former recovered from a broken nose due to the hit to the face, his forehead had already made an encounter with the Tony’s gun.

Another shot rang out in the silence.  
Tony didn’t hesitate nor did he flinch when blood splattered over his previously white shirt.

He could hear them running down the corridor now.  
So close. Tony turned.

The next few minutes were a blur only interrupted by a flash of pain in Tony side.  
Apparently one of the fallen-but-not-dead ones had wrenched the knife from Tony’s first kill and managed to make a small but deep slash his left side.  
The flair of pain was ignored using sheer determination and adrenaline.

When his senses returned to normal Tony found himself surrounded by dead bodies and the metallic smell of blood.  
He would have flinched or gagged, showed some human reaction but he wasn’t feeling human. Not anymore.

The 6 in his lab were still not here.  
Which meant F.R.I.D.A.Y was back online if just in the lab and had disabled any foreign communication device and had hopefully alarmed the other avengers.  
So, the left 6 didn’t know their team was dead.

Tony tried the elevator again. Still offline.

He tore his shirt and wrapped it around his torso. Extremis would take care of this one.

He made is way towards the lab.  
What he saw made his blood run cold.

Dum - E, U and Butterfingers had somehow confiscated the weapons those sons of bitches were carrying but now Butterfingers was broken and lay in parts around the lab.

U was missing an entire alteration and Dum - E was still snapping his claw at them as they kicked and hurled him around.

They were trapped until they weren’t.  
One of them managed to snatch a wrench from one of the tables and hit it straight onto F.R.I.D.A. Y’s operating software unknowingly.  
The doors opened and they spotted Tony.

And suddenly he too had a clearer view of his bots – his creations- strewn about the whole lab in pieces.

He saw red. These assholes were going to witness firsthand that Tony wasn’t called the merchant of death just for his weapons. They were going to witness the highly sophisticated and deadly accurate instrument of mass destruction Tony Stark was and they were not going to like it.

They decided to leave Dum – E and the weapons considering it too much effort. They thought they could take him down without their weapons. That was their first mistake.

Tony would make sure they don’t get time to make their second one.

While a minute ago he was as silent as a grave on his feet, now he charged like a tiger of the wild. Quick on his feet like one wouldn’t expect.

A quick kick in the groin, a dislocated shoulder and a precise punch to the liver.  
The first one went down.

An open hand on the throat managed to stumble the second one. Tony grabbed his head and slammed it on the wall.  
His skull fractured with a sickening crunch as he went down.

The next two came swiftly, clearly used to fighting together.  
Tony jumped over his chair, wrapped his legs around one and flipped him onto the second while landing on his feet with a hand on the ground. He stood up with a gun.  
Two quick shots through the brain promised them a quick death.

One tried to jump from behind. His tactic was swiftly rendered useless with a dislocated knee and a right hook right on the spleen. Not death for this one but a painful and useless life.

That was when a shot rang out.

Tony vision whited as a bullet tore his left side straight through his cut from earlier.

Pain like he hadn’t experienced since a long time exploded in his body like lava.  
There was a distant throb in his ears as his body tried to find its orbit and suddenly disrupted equilibrium.

He turned around.  
The man was already down with Dum - E looming over him.

Tony tried to take a step but swayed dangerously.  
He needs to kill everyone.  
He must die. The last one must die.  
He takes another step picking a gun on his way.

The mans looks at him with blank eyes.  
“Who sent you? Why are you here?”

“You think I will answer to you?” the man snarled “I am not scared of death Tony Stark nor am I scared of weaklings like you who wear a literal armor to protect their feeble hearts.”

“This weakling just killed 19 of your men with no weapon of his own” Tony snarked back.  
He noticed the blood flow from his wound already weakening due to Extremis. Thank god for small mercies. From the corner of his eye he caught the man trying to discretely reach for a gun with his left hand. He decided to humor him and turned around.

“The armor you so easily disgrace was built by this weakling in a fucking cave in the middle of an Afghani desert with scraps of old weapons all the while having a car battery attached to his open sternum to prevent pieces of shrapnel from entering his heart.”

“That does not make you the hero you pretend to be”

Tony ignored the obvious attempt to distract him and wrapped his cloth tighter around the wound as the man wrapped two of his fingers around the holster of the gun.

“It would take less than a second for you to die but that’s quite long enough to be in mortal agony. Don’t you think?” Tony said turning around.

The mans face snapped as he caught Tony’s eyes.

Tony raised the gun and fired at his left hand.  
The man screamed in misery and Tony stared impassively.

“You are a coward.” the man bit out.

Tony leaned in closer to him.  
“I am no coward asshole. I’m a fate worse than death”

A brief flicker of fear passed the man’s blank face before Tony shot him.

How he made his way to the couch was beyond him but suddenly Dum - E was there handing him a first aid box.

The next hour was spent in a haze of pain as Tony somehow fixed himself and managed to get F.R.I.D.A.Y partly functional in the penthouse.

The trip to the penthouse was no better.  
Every step blindingly painful.

He made his way to the living room farthest from the bodies and settled on the mutilated couch.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y?”

“Yes boss?”

“Contact the avengers.”

“Contacting again.”

“Wait…..again?”

“I contacted them the first time I came online in the lab and noticed unfamiliar heat signatures boss.”

“Did they reply.”

“No boss.”

“Contact them again.”

“Yes boss contacting now”

Tony closed his eyes and allowed his enhanced healing factor to work its magic.

“It was awesome” Sam exclaimed.

“It was boring” Wanda retorted.

They had just made their way out of the theatre and were lazily walking on the sidewalk.

Steve just chuckled at their antics and took out his Stark pad switching it on.

A missed call from Tony.  
A red alert.  
Another missed call.

Steve felt a sense of dread creeping over him.  
“Switch on your pads” he ordered and the chatting stopped.  
Everybody looked at him in confusion.  
“Switch on your pads” Steve repeated.

“What’s wrong Stevie” Bucky asked coming behind him to look into his pad  
Steve could tell the exact moment Bucky’s breath hitched.

“I have 2 missed calls and a red alert from Tony” Natasha said frowning at her pad.  
“Yeah so do I.” Wanda said.  
“Me too” Sam added.  
“Yeah me-too” Clint almost whispered.

Something was very wrong.  
They needed to get to Tony buy Steve couldn’t move.

“Come on Steve we need to go” Bucky snapped him out of his thoughts and they raced down the sidewalk literally jumping into the 2 taxis that happened to be at the crossroad.

The ride home was one of the longest rides they had ever endured.

They called for F.R.I.D.A.Y as soon as they entered.  
There was no reply.  
The elevator was offline.

They rushed up the stairs in perfect sync and reached the penthouse after some manhandling.

The sight the greeted them would haunt Steve’s nightmares perhaps forever.

The lobby was littered with bodies.  
The stench of stale blood was thick in the air.

Wanda gagged.  
“Oh my god Tony” Bruce whispered.

That seemed to snap them out of whatever haze they had been in.  
“He is in the living room sir F.R.I.D.A. Y’s” voice echoed.  
They rushed down the lobby and burst into the living room.

There on a stranded couch lay Tony, his torso wrapped in white gauze.  
He appeared to be sleeping. Fucking sleeping.

“Tony” Natasha exclaimed rushing over first while the others followed.  
He blinked his eyes open.

Bruce rushed forward and crouched down.  
“Hey Brucie” Tony croaked.  
“What happened Tony. What the hell happened.”  
“Uh kidnappers fighting stab wound fighting bullet wound monologue shot in the head.”  
“What?”  
“‘m sorry blood loss is fucking with my brain. F.R.I.D.A.Y will have the footage”  
“Get the bodies out please. The stench is unbearable.” Tony added before passing out.

The next time he woke up he was in his own bed.

The others were scattered around him.  
“How long has it been?” He asked feeling pretty clear headed for guy who’d been shot.

God bless Extremis.

“You’re awake” Steve exclaimed getting up from the recliner beside the bed and crouching over him.

“It’s not even been 2 hours properly “Bruce said sounding worried.

“Did you….”

“Yes, they are gone and the whole place is clean”

“Good”

“Now you mind telling us what happened?”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y show them”

“Yes boss”

A holographic screen appeared in the center of the room and the days events played out before the slack jawed Avengers.

All of them flinched when the knife passed his left side except Natasha and Bucky.

“Ouch…. that must have hurt. Sucks for me I guess.”

And suddenly all the glares were directed at him.

“What?”

They didn’t reply.

The footage from the lab came up.

Bruce looked green. Sam and Clint looked too pale. Natasha was glaring at the screen. Wanda’s eyes were tinged red.

Bucky and Steve however looked downright murderous.  
Tony never knew Captain America could glare like that.

The footage ended.  
“So ……. that happened. Let’s never talk about this ever again.” Tony said  
Nobody said anything. Tony took it as a good sign.

“Now please get out because you need sleep after all the fun you have had today and I need sleep after all the fun I have had today.”

Natasha stood up and kissed him on the forehead.  
“I’m glad you are alright” 

Wanda followed her example before going out.

“This isn’t fair Stark” Clint said.  
“Yeah you had all the fun without us.” Sam added  
Tony just winked at them and they too left.

Bruce checked over him one last time before leaving too.

Tony looked at the soldiers and sighed.  
“You are not leaving are you”

“No” Bucky replied crisply.

Tony just closed his eyes and drifted off not acknowledging the warmth that unfurled in his chest.

Maybe…. this is something he could have.

The next time he woke up he was alone.

He got up with no difficulty and went to the bathroom.

Apart from a few lingering bruises and his already half healed wound he looked fine.  
He was just really really tired.

He went outside only to be greeted by two frantic soldiers whose eyes locked onto his as soon as he was out.

“2 minutes Tony. We leave for two minutes” Steve said shaking his head slightly.

Bucky came forward and stood directly in front of him.  
“You alright?” he whispered running his hand over Tony’s torso.

Tony shuddered and leaned into the touch.  
The other hand cupped his cheek and he closed his eyes. God he was so exhausted.

“I’m fine” he murmured.

Another warm body wrapped its arms around him from behind and Tony turned into a puddle between them.

“A fate worse than death huh”? Bucky murmured.  
“Yeah” Tony licked his lips.

Bucky kissed him.  
Slow and savoring and consuming.

Tony groaned and bit his bottom lip. Bucky retaliated by sucking his tongue. Tony moaned.  
They broke apart and Tony took a shallow breath not wanting to break the moment.

“We are never leaving you alone again, even if you beg.”

Before Tony could reply Steve turned his face and latched his own lips to his.  
His kiss was more frantic. As if asking for reassurance that Tony was right here. That he was fine.

Tony tried to comfort him as much as he could when suddenly he felt Bucky’s lips on the exposed part of his neck, sucking and biting at his pulse point.

Tony gasped giving Steve a chance to go in deeper which he did and moaned.

Tony’s knees weekend. Had it not been for the two soldiers holding him he would have surely collapsed.  
Steve broke the kiss

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault Steve”

“I should have left at least one phone switched on Tony. I’m so sorry.”

Tony silenced him with another kiss.

“It’s not your fault darling and I don’t blame you for any of it so calm down” 

“We know you don’t doll. Now rest. You need it.”

“Lay down with me?”

And that’s how Tony found himself on the bed surrounded by warmth from all sides as Steve spooned him from behind and Bucky leaned in with a protective hand over his good side

‘All’s well that ends well I guess’ Tony found himself thinking as he drifted off to sleep.

*Few hours later*

Sam smiled and took a picture of them as Wanda slowly closed the door.

Natasha and Clint stood behind them with soft smiles on their faces.

Vision had taken up the responsibility to fix F.R.I.D.A.Y and Bruce was preparing food in the kitchen.

“He was so graceful” Wanda said.

“And so precise with his hits” Bruce added as they sat down to eat.

“A total badass” Clint said.

“I wonder where he learned it from” Sam asked no one in particular.

Natasha shrugged as she once again found herself wondering about this man – Tony Stark – who never ceased to surprise her.

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me if you like it cuz I appreciate comments  
> Okayyyy that sounded weirdly mature........lol  
> seriously though tell me if you like it  
> am I supposed to right something cool here??!!??!!  
> idk  
> well bye  
> *that was so not cool*


End file.
